This invention relates to the mechanic arts, and particularly to the field of building demolition. It often happens that the site of an urban renewal or other building project is already occupied by structures which are not suited for the new use, or are in ill repair, and hence must be removed. Such structures are frequently of frame construction and contain sheathing, roofing, flooring, and similar boards which would have value for reuse. Usually, however, no attempt is made to salvage this material, and the whole structure is torn apart by a wrecking crane and hauled away as trash to be disposed of. Sometimes this is due to the pressure of time within which the new work must be accomplished, but very often it is simply because the reclamation of such used lumber is not economically feasible. The cost of the labor needed to disassemble a structure in a way which preserves usable materials is one factor, and another factor is the relatively low yield of usable material due, for example, to splitting of boards incidental to the wrecking process. The usual tools employed in demolition are hammers and wrecking bars: occasionally nail pullers are used, but pulling nails individually is a tedious process which is slow and hence expensive in labor costs. The concentrated impact of hammer blows mars the boards, and often causes breakage, while wrecking bars are almost ideally designed to split boards lengthwise in the act of removing them.
I have invented a tool for use in demolishing frame buildings, which is inexpensive, efficient, and easy to use, and which acts on substantially the entire width of the board being removed, rather than along one edge only, to continuously and smoothly separate the board from the timber to which it is nailed. My tool is usable in any position, to remove sheathing, roofing, of flooring boards, wherever access can be had to the rear surface of the boards and the timbers to which they are nailed. My tool involves no impact forces and no cross grain leverage forces, and hence its use results in a high proportion of undamaged boards fit for salvage.